Sunday, March 31, 2013

Mentioned about getting in quite a few new gashapon sets/shokugan/prize item in the previous posting, this new review, the last one for this month, will be on one particular prize item from Banpresto. ^^

As you can see from the image above, it's actually a prize item set featuring Lacus Clyne and Cagalli Yula Athha in MS pilot suits from "MS Gundam SEED Destiny". Lacus is shown to be in her pink suit briefly seen in the anime when she delivered Infinite Justice Gundam to the Archangel; Cagalli in her red and maroon suit is more prominently shown in the show when she piloted Akatsuki Gundam in the defensive war against ZAFT.

Although they are classified as prize items, the quality of the tow figures' sculpt work, painting and detailing is on par with other regular-sized resin figurines - their height certainly seems compatible, ^^ and the large windowed box each figurine came packaged in is not too far off than those used by regular figurines as well. ^^ I'm certainly glad that the boxes have a large clear window in front that allows the content to be seen very clearly (for the most part) without having to unload the figurines. ^^ The special bargain price I received in getting the set was certainly very nice as well. ^^

(Left) Looking at the release year, a six-year-old prize item this is. ^^
(Right) The usual product-related questionnaire on the bottom side of the box.

The design idea of this "DX Image Display Figure" series is to showcase the characters standing on the palm area of the Gundam related to them, so the figures aside, another two important elements are the display base and backdrop. The former is obviously modeled after a fragment of the Gundam's hand - three fingers for each base, while the latter consists of blurred images of Strike Freedom Gundam and Akatsuki Gundam to depict distance with the figurines on display, and size as well perhaps. Disregarding the rather unnatural look of how the fingers are articulated to match the figurines' poses as seen from the image behind the box, and how they are quite awkwardly aligned to the Gundam image, Lacus and Cagalli themselves look really good. ^^

In terms of "technicality" (sculpt work, painting and detailing), there's no doubt that the figurine is very well done. The accurate color separation and clean paint work of the different parts on Cagalli's suit is certainly very nice-looking, and I really like the gradient paint work applied to her hair as well. ^^ Apart from presumably tight quality control at Banpresto and careful attention to details when the figurine was made, its larger size is definitely helpful in allowing more details to be included, which are done very well. ^^

The face sculpt and detailing of this figurine are interesting points to me. Somehow, I don't feel that this is an accurate representation of the character, but it's really not bad at all. ^^ The likeliness is about 80 percent I would say, and much of it is actually due to the sculpt work of the hair and paint work of the pupils. The detailing of the face in overall shows a very gentle-looking "girly" Cagalli, which isn't exactly how the character is supposed to be in the anime I think. ^^; That smile on her face is certainly lovely, but by the time Cagalli went into combat with Akatsuki Gundam, worried, sad ("...but Cagalli is crying!" XD) and all serious business are the only emotions I could remember of the character, so the smile is somewhat "out of character" I would say. ^^; Then again, I totally welcome that happier and more feminine image design of Cagalli through this figurine. As with most other characters in the show, Cagalli's story and character was very poorly written in my opinion, so I'm glad that this prize item gives the character a more positive image that is outside the show's depiction. ^^

So, when the show is separated from the merchandise, this is a very nice-looking figurine of Cagalli. ^^ I certainly prefer a smiling Cagalli over a crying one. ^^ This prize item figurine is a very valuable too I would say, since there's no regular figurine release of Cagalli in her Orb pilot suit. That may change now with the start of the HD remastered version of "MS Gundam SEED Destiny".

The figurine herself is all that I care about for this prize item, which is why I don't bother about the partial Gundam-hand display base or the backdrop image. ^^

The review on Lacus from this prize item set will be coming not-so-soon in the future. ^^